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Aditya G wrote: Mortars were also fired at us. Thankfully, they didn't explode," he says.
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Mortars from porkis infiltrators? Is it DDM because I didn't see any mortar tubes in the pix of the dead
We discussed this before. The mortars were Under Barrel Grenade launchers for the AK-47s. First reports said they were mortar shells fired. Later on after looking at pictures of the weapons captured, it was clear UBGL were used Since the caliber is similar to the 2" mortar fairly understandable misperception.
However UBGL on AK-47s were SOP in Kashmir. So Army need to socialize the weapons used by jihadis to their first response teams.
As the decks were cleared for the visit of Pakistani investigators to India to probe the attack on the Pathankot airbase, India will ask the neighbouring country about the “composition of the team” and the “contents of the evidence required by them.” India has accused the Pakistan-based outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) of planning and executing the attack on the airbase on the intervening night of January 1-2.
A senior official said the decision to let the Pakistani team access the airbase, a highly sensitive defence installation, would be taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval.
After India gave evidence, Pakistan registered a First Information Report (FIR) a few days ago. The Counter Terrorism Division (CTD) of the Pakistani Police arrested three suspects.
“The Pakistani team will come here armed with a letter rogatory (LR) issued by a court there. The LR is required to probe the case on foreign soil. Since they have made a few arrests, we will have to provide them corroborative evidence. We will be asking them to provide us the details so that we can help in the investigation,” the official said.
He said the team could come to India “any time soon.” “We are fully prepared to assist the Pakistani team. The decision to provide it access to the airbase will, however, be taken by the highest authority,” he added.
The three accused arrested by Pakistan have been identified as Khalid Mahmood, Irshadul Haque and Muhammad Shoaib. They had allegedly facilitated the attack.
Minister of State (Home) Kiren Rijiju told the Lok Sabha on Tuesday: “A case has been registered [by Pakistan]. This is for the first time Pakistan has taken action. India had given evidence to Pakistan.”
The four terrorists who attacked the Pathankot airbase on January 2 had entered India through a riverine patch in Bamiyal village along the Punjab border on the intervening night of December 30-31. After a long trek, they sat down for a meal of Shahi Paneer, Haleem, Shahi chicken, jam, cookies and Nestle milk, NIA has said.
They dug a pit and hid the food packets, each weighing 300-375 grams. At the end of the meal, the four terrorists, who were identified by India, proceeded to the Pathankot airbase. Almost two months after the attack, the National Investigation Agency has now recovered the empty packets. India has sent the details, along with other evidence gathered from the airbase, to Pakistan for corroborative evidence.
The four terrorists who attacked the Pathankot airbase on January 2 had entered India through a riverine patch in Bamiyal village along the Punjab border on the intervening night of December 30-31. After a long trek, they sat down for a meal of Shahi Paneer, Haleem, Shahi chicken, jam, cookies and Nestle milk, NIA has said.
They dug a pit and hid the food packets, each weighing 300-375 grams. At the end of the meal, the four terrorists, who were identified by India, proceeded to the Pathankot airbase. Almost two months after the attack, the National Investigation Agency has now recovered the empty packets. India has sent the details, along with other evidence gathered from the airbase, to Pakistan for corroborative evidence.
Note no biryani. Yet had they been captured alive would have demanded biryani like Kasab.
Hope NIA did not dig up other pits used after their meals.
Quite a revealing interview by Parrikar - don't know if it was posted earlier - India has a good DM for once....guy is brilliant. So current GOI has two great leaders - Namo and MP.
The Indian Air Force will have no objection if the government decided to permit the Pakistan Special Investigation Team (SIT) into the Pathankot Air Force station, the Air Force chief, Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha, said on Friday.
“If the government allows the team, why should we object? Whether to permit or not to permit [them] into the Pathankot base will be a political decision. I will not comment on it,” Air Chief Marshal Raha told mediapersons in Jamnagar on Friday.
He said that the case needed to be pursued towards “some outcome.”
“We want a closure of the case with appropriate action against those who attacked the base,” he said.{That is never going to happen}
Heated debate
There has been a furious debate on whether the Pakistan SIT, which is investigating the terrorist attack on the Pathankot air base in January, should be given access. Several serving and retired officers have opposed the idea, saying that a forward base on the western border could not be thrown open to the Pakistani team.
The IAF chief’s statement is a clear signal that the decision to allow the Pakistan SIT will be left to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, because on various occasions in the past, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had opposed the move. The attack on the air base by six terrorists from Pakistan on the early hours of January 2 went on for five days and claimed the lives of seven security personnel.
Earlier this week, Sartaj Aziz, Foreign Affairs Advisor to Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, said that the SIT team would visit India very soon.
There has been a furious debate on whether the Pakistan SIT, which is investigating the terrorist attack on the Pathankot air base in January, should be given access. Several serving and retired officers have opposed the idea, saying that a forward base on the western border could not be thrown open to the Pakistani team.
I agree with this
Unless Indian team of officers and Police dont get access to Pak terrorist location and Bawalpur India should not entertain other countries
Indian investigation should be in Pak soil. Permanent officers stationed inside Pak to monitor jihadi groups from past attacks.
Guys dont believe most of the newspapers. They are all worth for just one purpose. Not for reading. Few days before some of them published that we are going against China along with the U.S and Japan in joing patrol. Today Raksha Mantri himself said nothing of that sort. So all were lies.
Two Indian Air Force (IAF) personnel from the Pathankot airbase were drowned and three airmen were hospitalised after the water level in the Ravi river suddenly rose near Chamba town on Saturday evening.
The dead were identified as corporal Shakti Singh, 30, of Jaipur in Rajasthan and corporal Nitesh Mishra, 26 from Meerut in Uttar Pradesh. Airmen Naval Pandey, Naveen Sharma and Gajender Singh were admitted to the Chamba Civil Hospital.
Deputy commissioner Sudesh Mokhta said, “The five were clicking photos on the river bank near Chamba town when the water level in the Ravi suddenly rose and swept them away. Nitesh and Shakti were drowned, while the three others managed to swim to safety.”
The district authorities were informed about the accident following which a search was launched. The bodies of the two IAF personnel were recovered on Sunday morning.
Alert unheard?
Sources said that the water level in the river rose when surplus water was discharged from the Chamera-2 dam of the National Hydro Power Corporation (NHPC) located upstream.
The sources said that it is suspected that the airmen did not hear the alert sounded through a siren by the NHPC authorities.
A young friend of mine met Gen. Bikram Singh, Gurmeet Kanwal and others at a function. He was telling how it was pointed out that media focus (and questions asked by civilians like up on BRF) have an unintentional effect of people's lives.
The General was referring to the Army's strategy of "strangulation" where holed up terrorists are simply surrounded and not allowed to escape till they starve. This may take many days but waiting is not a problem until the media - encouraged by civilians start hollering "Why is it taking so long? What is the army hiding? Why can't 200 men take out 2 men?" Such thinsg do filter down to young leaders on the ground who then take needless risks because they have been provoked by the lack of support and understanding from their own side. Two men were lost like this in Pathankot.
Why is it taking so long? What is the army hiding? Why can't 200 men take out 2 men? - are questions that I have heard being asked on hyperpatriotic, "ahead of curve" BRF
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has reportedly informed the government that it will have no objection if a Special Investigation Team (SIT) from Pakistan wants to visit the Pathankot air base, a high security defence installation. The Pakistan SIT is due to visit India in connection with an ongoing probe.
Last week, the Air Force chief, Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha, had said that the force would have no objection if the Pakistan SIT wanted to visit the air base.
A senior government official said that the final decision would be taken by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and the National Security Advisor (NSA) would also have a say in it. {What about the Defence Minister?}
A few days ago, the NIA was asked for its opinion on the Pakistan SIT’s visit to the air base. “The area of operation, where the four terrorists were gunned down and the Airmen’s Billet, which was blown up, are located at the periphery of the air base. The defence installations are much inside and it is highly unlikely that the security of the airbase would be compromised”, said the official.
The NIA’s decision assumes significance as India and Pakistan have renewed attempts to share real time information on terrorist groups. {So, the so-called sharing of 'real-time false information' by Pakistan was aimed for multiple benefits, one of which was access to PAFB?} Last week, Pakistan NSA Naseer Khan Janjua informed his Indian counterpart that 10 Pakistan-based terrorists could have sneaked into India through the Gujarat coast. Following this information, a country-wide alert was issued and security agencies were pressed into action to further tackle the situation.
The Pakistan SIT is expected to visit India around March 20, an official said. Based on information provided by India, a case has been registered in Pakistan regarding the Pathankot attack and three persons have been arrested.
“The area of operation is still being preserved. We might need to access it again as part of the ongoing investigations. We have identified all the four terrorists who entered the airbase and have already sent their photographs to Pakistan with the letter rogatory,” said the official.
Several people in the security establishment are apprehensive of the Pakistan team’s visit.
The attack on the air base by six terrorists from Pakistan on January 2 went on for five days and claimed the lives of seven security personnel.
The National Security Guard (NSG) faces no shortage of vital equipment including those meant for night vision, the government said on Tuesday.
He was responding to a question from a member on whether the NSG lacked vital equipment to operate at night "as was evident" during the terrorist attack on the IAF base at Pathankot in January.
He said the NSG was granted Rs.674.57 crore in 2014-15, out of which 97 percent had been utilised.
Do not know about others, but at least for me the major point is the lack of specialized equipment; the absence puts the lives in danger. While I do understand that not every unit can have specialized gear; they can be there at division level and transported to the site in the case of a situation.
There is also a communication failure. If the objective is to wear them down, then let it be communicated to the media. The fact of the matter is that there is typically no cogent communication policy or a single point of contact who the media can go to and propagate the message. The Kanwal's are pretty media savvy; they should be able to advise on how to manage communication in such occasions.
Vikram, if there is one thing we should all realize by now, its that many in the media are 4th rate, motivated jerks who only have an objective to run down the current GOI.
KaranM, One lesson after 26/11 is to have one media spokesman and if that's not feasible due to turf wars, then have a panel. This frequent unnamed/anonymouse sources wreaks havoc and gives media a field day.
At the least they can say "operation is ongoing no comments." Or "talk to Delhi."
Why give half processed info that could be used against the very agency to tarnished it by media thugs?
Those unnamed sources are known to the various agencies and they should be sacked or sent to hardship posting by the Govt.
I think the anonymouse sources seek credit and glory for them via these presstitutes.
External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj met her Pakistani counterpart Sartaj Aziz at the Saarc conference of foreign ministers in Nepal's Pokhara on Thursday.
The two leaders discussed a range of issues between the two countries including cross-border terrorism from Pakistan, including the attack on Pathankot airbase in January this year.
Following the meeting, the two foreign ministers issued a joint statement, in which they said a Pakistani investigation team would visit India on March 27 to probe the attack. According to media reports from Pakistan, the Pakistani investigating team members have already been issued visas by India. Swaraj said the probe will start on March 28.
This was the first formal meeting between the two leaders after the January 2 cross-border terror attack on the Indian Air Force base at Pathankot, Punjab.
On Wednesday, Aziz had said he is ready to talk about all issues that will be raised by Swaraj. Highly-placed government sources said that India will seek to gain "knowledge" about the action taken by Pakistan against the perpetrators of the deadly attack on the airbase where 7 Indian security personnel. All the attackers were also gunned down.
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had formed a team including representatives of different intelligence agencies to provide relative material to Indian authorities. A special team was put together that was tasked with assisting the Indian agencies probing the airbase attack.
External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj met her Pakistani counterpart Sartaj Aziz at the Saarc conference of foreign ministers in Nepal's Pokhara on Thursday.
The two leaders discussed a range of issues between the two countries including cross-border terrorism from Pakistan, including the attack on Pathankot airbase in January this year.
Following the meeting, the two foreign ministers issued a joint statement, in which they said a Pakistani investigation team would visit India on March 27 to probe the attack. According to media reports from Pakistan, the Pakistani investigating team members have already been issued visas by India. Swaraj said the probe will start on March 28.
This was the first formal meeting between the two leaders after the January 2 cross-border terror attack on the Indian Air Force base at Pathankot, Punjab.
On Wednesday, Aziz had said he is ready to talk about all issues that will be raised by Swaraj. Highly-placed government sources said that India will seek to gain "knowledge" about the action taken by Pakistan against the perpetrators of the deadly attack on the airbase where 7 Indian security personnel. All the attackers were also gunned down.
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had formed a team including representatives of different intelligence agencies to provide relative material to Indian authorities. A special team was put together that was tasked with assisting the Indian agencies probing the airbase attack.
cashmere is not going to be sorted out any time soon, why are the pakis so insistent on talking to us?? and with such urgency too.
2. Have at least a modicum of investigation by Pakistan, leading to at least an acknowledgement of use of their soil. With 1% chance that somebody gets genuinely arrested. Perhaps at least give somebody in Pak establishment who is against ISI a 0.01% chance to make a difference via this case.
3. Scream, shout, call Pakistan rogue state itiyadi till next terror attack
SRoy wrote:ISI top brass must be laughing their @$$e$ off behind the closed doors. How often one gets to play the judge, jury and the executioner.
Incredible isn't it. Although, I'm sure some people will twist this news and suggest it's some kind of Chanakya type move by the powers to be in India.
Last week we let in that terrorist supporting scum Sheikh Rashid to watch the cricket in Kolkata and now this. What next, invite Hafiz Saeed over to investigate 26/11?
Washing his hands off the controversy over a Pakistani Joint Investigation Team’s visit to the Pathankot airbase on Tuesday, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar today said the “crime scene” is under the control of NIA and it is up to the agency to decide who to allow there or not.
Noting that no permission has been given by the Defence Ministry for entry into the airbase, he said that the “crime scene”, a “non-sensitive” area, has been completely barricaded, including visually, on his orders and no defence asset would be used to facilitate the visit of the Pakistani team.
“However, an area where the actual crime had taken place had been handed over to NIA long back which is conducting the entire investigation. Who will be taken there, who will probe, depends on the decision of NIA,” Mr. Parrikar said replying to questions here on the sidelines of Defexpo.
“We have specifically refused them permission to go anywhere in the airbase,” he said.
He said that as far as the Defence Ministry is concerned, they have issued clear directions that the “crime scene” should be barricaded — visually blocked or obstructed — and that external entry should be given to NIA.
The minister said he had issued the instructions following media reports.{Isn't that strange?}
“Whom to bring, when to bring is their responsibility till they complete the investigation,” he said.
“If I don’t permit them this crime investigation freedom, then the crime investigation failure would be blamed on the Defence Ministry. We have isolated the area completely,” he said.
Parrikar, who had earlier publicly spoken against the planned visit of the Pakistani team to the Pathankot airbase, said the crime scene was least sensitive and a non-functional area except for a hostel for foreign cadres and mess.
“This area is isolated and taken out from airbase till the investigation is completed. Permission to land at airbase has been refused; permission to use any of the defence instruments like vehicles has been refused. Permission to speak to any defence personnel has been refused,” he said, adding these questions should be directed to NIA.
NEW DELHI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday presented evidence of the involvement of Jaish-e-Muhammad militants in the Pathankot airbase attack which the visiting five-member Pakistan Joint Investigation Team (JIT) reportedly couldn't refute.
The NIA, during a day-long interaction with the JIT, showed them weapons like AK-47s and pistols, binoculars, GPS device, grenades, medicines, clothes, food packets, dates and dry fruits, wire-cutters, and shoes which either had a 'Made in Pakistan' marking or were procured from there. The JIT was also shown phone numbers and call intercepts from Pakistan during the attack to prove that it originated there.
The phone numbers of Rauf Asghar, brother of JeM chief Masood Azhar, ere also shared. The Pakistani delegation, top sources told TOI, couldn't contradict any of this evidence and quietly took down notes. NIA director general Sharad Kumar said the meeting took place in a cordial atmosphere and the Pakistani side was "cooperative". The NIA also cited similarities between the Pathankot attack and those in Samba and Kathua last year like using the same GPS and wireless sets, the modus operandi of hijacking cars, energy drink 'Red Bull' (common in all attacks), identical wire cutters and arms and ammunition of eastern Europe, Russian and Chinese make which are freely available in the Af-Pak region.
Guys, Pakistan will never accept its terror, will never budge from its 'destroy-India' position and will never stop its duplicity. This visit is perfidy at its height.
India is understood to have unveiled its clever strategy to the Pakistani Joint Investigation Team. Its move to allow the five-member JIT,
which included an Inter Services Intelligence officer, access to the Pathankot airbase was essentially a reciprocal exercise and as a quid pro quo
New Delhi would like access to Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar and others for questioning.
11 cops on 24-hour duty to protect Pathankot attackers' bodies
Pathankot: Eleven policemen have been on duty round-the-clock at the civil hospital morgue here for the past almost three months to protect the bodies of four terrorists killed after they attacked the Air Force Base here in January.
An NIA official said the hospital authorities have been asked to preserve the bodies as they are ‘evidence for us’, and this has kept the policemen on their toes.
The visiting JIT from Pakistan did not examine the bodies today, officials said.
"It has been 80 days now. I cannot afford to lower guard even for a minute," constable Dalbir Singh, whose job, along with his colleagues', is to protect the morgue in the only government hospital here, said.
Head constable Vinod Kumar is on alert whenever anybody approaches the morgue.
"We have clear instructions not to allow anyone near the room. If terrorists could come till the airbase, then this place cannot be beyond their reach. Our senior officers conduct daily rounds to check on the bodies and a van from the police control room is also stationed near the boundary wall every night," Kumar said.
The terrorists were eliminated in a counteroffensive by security forces on January 2. The bodies were handed over to the hospital on January 7, the hospital authorities said.
Senior medical officer at the hospital, Dr Bhupinder Singh said, "Since we got the bodies four-five days after the encounter, there were some changes in them."
They are being preserved in deep freezers at temperatures between minus three and four degrees Celsius, he said.
But with only two freezers available, two bodies share space in each compartment.
The bodies have started to decompose, the policemen on duty confide. It is a challenge to keep them intact as grenade explosion had also caused considerable damage to them, they say.
A policeman posted at the morgue said unbearable stench comes out whenever power goes off.
"It becomes difficult to even stand here. When there is no electricity, the freezer stops working. The ice melts and stinking water comes out. Forget the stink it is also harmful for health as it contains hazardous fluid of the dead bodies," the policeman said.
When the bodies were brought they were covered with dry blood and had bullet holes all over, said Chaman Lal, the attendant at the morgue.
Lal has been assisting doctors in conducting autopsies at the hospital since 1991.
There are maggots all over the bodies, he said. "I have to clean them at regular intervals. It has been so many days, it's difficult to clean the maggots," Lal added.
Sounds like the bodies are already decomposed. They will have all the viscera samples they need but it looks like there is a legal block in not disposing of the bodies as they are "evidence"
shiv wrote:Sounds like the bodies are already decomposed. They will have all the viscera samples they need but it looks like there is a legal block in not disposing of the bodies as they are "evidence"
strangely, all the faqers have their eyebrows cosmetically shaved/shaped to give it better shape!!
preparing for the meeting with their designated 72 virgins??
shiv wrote:Sounds like the bodies are already decomposed. They will have all the viscera samples they need but it looks like there is a legal block in not disposing of the bodies as they are "evidence"
strangely, all the faqers have their eyebrows cosmetically shaved/shaped to give it better shape!!
preparing for the meeting with their designated 72 virgins??
A lot of Muslim men use facial make up. Kohl is routine. Perhaps eyebrows is part of the routine of looking beautiful. I think one would need to look at the beauty instructions of the Quran. Will see if I can locate and post.
chetak wrote:strangely, all the faqers have their eyebrows cosmetically shaved/shaped to give it better shape!!
preparing for the meeting with their designated 72 virgins??
A lot of Muslim men use facial make up. Kohl is routine. Perhaps eyebrows is part of the routine of looking beautiful. I think one would need to look at the beauty instructions of the Quran. Will see if I can locate and post.
AFAIK, 'making up' is forbidden in Islam because it goes against Allah who created the person as he/she is without 'make up'.
Pakistan’s Joint Investigation Team (JIT) traversed nearly 100 km in the interiors of Pathankot district of Punjab on Tuesday, in a bid to collect evidence regarding the Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists who were killed at the Pathankot Air Force base after a fierce gun battle on January 2. A senior government official claimed that the JIT was convinced with the kind of evidence presented before them regarding JeM’s involvement in the attack.
He said the field visit added further weight to India’s claims.
The five-member JIT was put in bullet-proof SUVs and were given a guided tour by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to all the five crime scenes, where the terrorists either stopped or snatched vehicles before storming the airbase.
Along the dusty roads of Pathankot, the JIT was given a first hand account of the route taken by the terrorists to enter India from Pakistan and finally reach the airbase. Accompanied by Indian officials, the team spent four hours criss-crossing the district.In an attempt to avoid embarrassing visuals of the Pakistan team entering through the main gate, the JIT was escorted via the rear side of the base, the same place that terrorists snaked in from. The perimeter wall, which was scaled by the terrorists, was broke open at one location to erect a small gate, through which the JIT entered the location.
Airbase covered
Barring the scene of crime, where the encounter took place, the entire airbase had been covered with tent clothes to visually block the defence installation from the Pakistan delegation.
The Punjab police commandos tailed the SUVs and a posse of policemen and policewomen followed the cavalcade.
The JIT had to walk down a bridge to enter the airbase, because of the circuitous route taken by them to enter the forward air force base that is dedicated for operations against Pakistan.
The NIA said that the JIT was taken to all the places they desired to. “Pakistan JIT had desired to visit all these places and we complied with their request. They were here to see for themselves,” said a senior government official.
The JIT spent only an hour at the airbase and they were taken to the MES dump yard where the terrorists hid before they engaged with the security forces, the DSC mess, where they hid when challenged by the Garud commando and the airmen’s billet, where last of the two terrorists were gunned down.
After visiting the airbase, the team first went to Koliyan village area where former Gurdaspur SP Salwinder Singh was abandoned by terrorists after they snatched his vehicle. The team then went to Kathlor Ka Pul, 40 km away where taxi driver Ikagar Singh was found murdered. They saw a bridge on Unjhh, adjoining Pakistan border, from where the terrorists allegedly crossed over.
Minutes before the JIT reached Pathankot, the Aam Aadmi Party staged a protest outside the main entrance.
chetak wrote:strangely, all the faqers have their eyebrows cosmetically shaved/shaped to give it better shape!!
preparing for the meeting with their designated 72 virgins??
The bodies may have got "embalmed" after the autopsy, and some beauticians called into the make the bodies a bit more presentable. Well if that helps in changing the perception of the allocated 72 virgins, then all the better.
The government allow into the country a team consisting of an ISI officer - the same ISI which is the mother and master of JeM - to investigate the Pathankot attack and in return the Pakis abduct an Indian businessman and force him (after being tortured no doubt) to admit that he is an Indian spy out to cause trouble in Pakistan.
